Forever 21 Worker Fired After She Tells Her Traumatic Story

Companies usually have a tight muzzle on employees when it comes to talking to the press, and even fire workers for embarrassing them in the media. But a San Diego worker at Forever 21, the retail chain, didn't expect to lose her job when she told a local weekly her story of overcoming a life of drug addiction and childhood abuse.

In April, Cassie Briscoe appeared on the cover of the San Diego Reader, an alternative news weekly. Inside, she revealed the traumatic childhood that drove her to drugs, and how she kicked her addiction, found religion and a job, with her house arrest bracelet still on her ankle. But soon after the story came out, Briscoe says that the famously Christian-owned retailer fired her, claiming that she'd concealed her felony on her application -- which Briscoe flatly denies.

"I didn't expect this would turn around on me like this," Briscoe told San Diego station KGTV. "I only saw good things coming from it."

A Childhood Of Tragedy
When Briscoe was 11, her grandmother's husband brutally attacked her family, murdering her grandmother, stabbing her mother 27 times, and her 7-year-old brother twice, she said. Her mother abandoned her soon after, and her father committed suicide.

Briscoe was put into a group home, she told the magazine, and ran away, where she was taken in by an older couple. They gave her drugs, and forced her into prostitution while she was still a child. She ran away after a year, but drug addiction continued to haunt her. In 2012 she was busted for selling a small amount of crystal meth.

Why Forever 21 Fired Her
Briscoe, now 28, reports that she has been clean since August. In the interview with the San Diego Reader, she said that she joined a church, and is currently under house arrest, which only allows her to leave for her drug treatment and her job.

It was a moving story of redemption. But there was at least one person, Briscoe said, who wasn't impressed: Her manager at Forever 21. Even though the San Diego Reader article didn't name her employer, Brisco said that her boss made it clear that she had to go.

"Once they saw the article, they were like: We have to do whatever they had to do to get me out of the store, so they started going through my paperwork," Briscoe told KGTV.

Did She Disclose Her Felony Conviction?
She said the store told her that she was being fired because she hadn't mentioned her felony convicted on her application. But Briscoe showed the news station a job application, with her felony conviction clearly marked. Forever 21 did not respond to a request for a comment.

For April's cover story, Briscoe told the Reader that she'd even been upfront with her employer about her criminal history. "They didn't know about my ankle bracelet, but I was honest about the felony because I wanted to be honest," she said, adding that because of her admission, her hours were cut.

Now she has no job at all. That's especially hard for Briscoe, who needs all the work that she can get. She has a daughter, and the drug sales charge on her record disqualifies her from food stamps and other assistance. Briscoe told the San Diego Reader that she also owes the state around $8,000, because of court visits and probation fees.

"That was hurtful," she said of her firing.

Briscoe had reason to believe her employer would be more forgiving. The owners of Forever 21 are well-known for their Christian beliefs, and their stores sell T-shirts with slogans such as, "I want to believe / to have hope / and to love / God will guide your soul."